Part of the spectrum of two or more input signals is encoded using conventional coding techniques, while encoding the rest of the spectrum using binaural cue coding (BCC). In BCC coding, spectral components of the input signals are downmixed and BCC parameters (e.g., inter-channel level and/or time differences) are generated. In a stereo implementation, after converting the left and right channels to the frequency domain, pairs of left- and right-channel spectral components are downmixed to mono. The mono components are then converted back to the time domain, along with those left- and right-channel spectral components that were not downmixed, to form hybrid stereo signals, which can then be encoded using conventional coding techniques. For playback, the encoded bitstream is decoded using conventional decoding techniques. BCC synthesis techniques may then apply the BCC parameters to synthesize an auditory scene based on the mono components as well as the unmixed stereo components.

Claim:

What is claimed is:

1. A method for encoding N input audio signals, N>1, comprising the steps of: (a) converting each of the N input audio signals into a plurality of spectral components in afrequency domain; (b) for each of one or more, but not all, of the spectral components, downmixing the spectral components corresponding to the N input audio signals to generate a downmixed spectral component, leaving one or more of the spectralcomponents for each of the N input audio signals unmixed; and (c) converting the one or more downmixed spectral components and the one or more unmixed spectral components into N hybrid audio signals in a time domain, wherein each hybrid audio signal isformed from at least one downmixed spectral component and at least one unmixed spectral component.

2. The invention of claim 1, further comprising the step of: (d) applying an audio coding algorithm to the N hybrid audio signals to generate an encoded audio bitstream.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (b) further comprises the step of generating one or more auditory spatial parameters for the one or more downmixed spectral components.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more auditory spatial parameters include one or more of an inter-channel level difference and an inter-channel time difference.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein: N=2; the two input audio signals correspond to left and right input audio signals of a stereo input audio signal; each downmixed spectral component is a mono spectral component; and the encoded audiobitstream is generated using a stereo audio coder.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein: the one or more downmixed spectral components have frequencies above a specified threshold frequency; and the one or more unmixed spectral components have frequencies below the specified threshold frequency.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the specified threshold frequency varies as a function of bit-rate.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein: the one or more downmixed spectral components have spectral energies below a specified threshold energy; and the one or more unmixed spectral components have spectral energies above the specified thresholdenergy.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein step (c) comprises: (c1) replicating each downmixed spectral component to generate N copies of the downmixed spectral component; and (c2) for each of N sets of spectral components corresponding to a fullspectral range, converting the set of spectral components into one of the N hybrid audio signals in the time domain, wherein each of the N sets of spectral components comprises at least one downmixed spectral component and at least one unmixed spectralcomponent.

11. An apparatus for processing N input audio signals, N>1 for encoding, comprising: (a) one or more transforms configured to convert each of the N input audio signals into a plurality of spectral components in a frequency domain; (b) adownmixer configured, for each of one or more, but not all, of the spectral components, to downmix the spectral components corresponding to the N input audio signals to generate a downmixed spectral component, leaving one or more of the spectralcomponents for each of the N input audio signals unmixed; and (c) one or more elements configured to convert the one or more downmixed spectral components and the one or more unmixed spectral components into N hybrid audio signals, wherein each hybridaudio signal is formed from at least one downmixed spectral component and at least one unmixed spectral component.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising an audio coder configured to generate an encoded audio bitstream based on the N hybrid audio signals.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a generator configured to generate one or more auditory spatial parameters for the one or more downmixed spectral components.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein: N=b 2; the two input audio signals correspond to left and right input audio signals of a stereo input audio signal; each downmixed spectral component is a mono spectral component; and a stereo audiocoder can generate an encoded audio bitstream based on the N hybrid audio signals.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein: the one or more downmixed spectral components have frequencies above a specified threshold frequency; and the one or more unmixed spectral components have frequencies below the specified thresholdfrequency.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the one or more elements comprise: a replicator configured to replicate each downmixed spectral component to generate N copies of the downmixed spectral component; and N inverse transforms, eachconfigured to convert one of N sets of spectral components corresponding to a full spectral range into one of the N hybrid audio signals in the time domain, wherein each of the N sets of spectral components comprises at least one downmixed spectralcomponent and at least one unmixed spectral component.

17. A method for decoding an encoded audio bitstream, comprising the steps of: (a) decoding the encoded audio bitstream to recover N hybrid audio signals, wherein each hybrid audio signal is formed from at least one downmixed spectral componentand at least one unmixed spectral component; (b) convert each of the N hybrid audio signals into a plurality of spectral components in a frequency domain, wherein: one or more sets of the spectral components correspond to downmixed spectral components; and one or more sets of the spectral components correspond to unmixed spectral components; (c) for each downmixed spectral component, applying one or more auditory spatial parameters to generate two or more synthesized spectral components; and (d)converting the synthesized spectral components and the unmixed spectral components into N decoded audio signals in a time domain, N>1.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein: N=2; the encoded audio bitstream is decoded using a stereo audio decoder; the two hybrid audio signals correspond to left and right hybrid audio signals of a hybrid stereo audio signal; and each downmixedspectral component is a mono spectral component.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein: the one or more downmixed spectral components have frequencies above a specified threshold frequency; and the one or more unmixed spectral components have frequencies below the specified thresholdfrequency.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein step (b) comprises generating each downmixed spectral component from a set of N corresponding spectral components, wherein the set comprises one spectral component from each of the N hybrid audio signals.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein each downmixed spectral component is generated by selecting one of the N corresponding spectral components in the set and ignoring the other (N-1) corresponding spectral components in the set.

22. An apparatus for decoding an encoded audio bitstream, comprising: an audio decoder configured to decode the encoded audio bitstream to generate N hybrid audio signals, wherein each hybrid audio signal is formed from at least one downmixedspectral component and at least one unmixed spectral component; one or more transforms configured to convert each of the N hybrid audio signals into a plurality of spectral components in a frequency domain, wherein: one or more sets of the spectralcomponents correspond to downmixed spectral components; and one or more sets of the spectral components correspond to unmixed spectral components; a synthesizer configured, for each downmixed spectral component, to apply one or more auditory spatialparameters to generate two or more synthesized spectral components; and one or more inverse transforms configured to convert the synthesized spectral components and the unmixed spectral components into N decoded audio signals in a time domain, N>1.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein: N=2; the encoded audio bitstream is decoded using a stereo audio decoder; the two hybrid audio signals correspond to left and right hybrid audio signals of a hybrid stereo audio signal; and eachdownmixed spectral component is a mono spectral component.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein: the one or more downmixed spectral components have frequencies above a specified threshold frequency; and the one or more unmixed spectral components have frequencies below the specified thresholdfrequency.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, further comprising a signal generator configured to generate each downmixed spectral component from a set of N corresponding spectral components, wherein the set comprises one spectral component from each of the Nhybrid audio signals.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the signal generator is configured to generate each downmixed spectral component by selecting one of the N corresponding spectral components in the set and ignoring the other (N-1) corresponding spectralcomponents in the set.

27. A method for encoding N input audio signals, N>1, comprising the steps of: (a) converting each of the N input audio signals into a plurality of spectral components in a frequency domain; (b) applying a first audio encoding scheme to afirst set of the spectral components to generate a first set of encoded audio data, wherein the first set of the spectral components comprises at least one spectral component for each of the N input audio signals and excludes at least one spectralcomponent for each of the N input audio signals; (c) applying a second audio encoding scheme, different from the first audio encoding scheme, to a second set of the spectral components, different from the first set of the spectral components, togenerate a second set of encoded audio data, wherein the second set of the spectral components comprises at least one spectral component for each of the N input audio signals and excludes at least one spectral component for each of the N input audiosignals; and (d) generating an encoded audio bitstream based on the first and second sets of encoded audio data, wherein: the first audio encoding scheme comprises: downmixing the first set of the spectral components to generate one or more downmixedspectral components; and generating one or more auditory spatial parameters for the one or more downmixed spectral components; and the second audio encoding scheme does not involve downmixing the second set of the spectral components.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the first set of encoded audio data comprises the one or more downmixed spectral components and the one or more auditory spatial parameters.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein: the spectral components in the first set have frequencies above a specified threshold frequency; and the spectral components in the second set have frequencies below the specified threshold frequency.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein: the spectral components in the first set have spectral energies below a specified threshold energy; and the spectral components in the second set have spectral energies above the specified threshold energy.

31. A method for decoding an encoded audio bitstream, comprising the steps of: (a) decoding the encoded audio bitstream to recover first and second sets of spectral components in a frequency domain; (b) applying a first audio synthesis schemeto the first set of spectral components to generate a first set of synthesized spectral components comprising at least one spectral component for each of N decoded audio signals and excluding at least one spectral component for each of the N decodedaudio signals; (c) applying a second audio synthesis scheme, different from the first audio synthesis scheme, to the second set of spectral components, different from the first set of spectral components, to generate a second set of synthesized spectralcomponents comprising at least one spectral component for each of the N decoded audio signals and excluding at least one spectral component for each of the N decoded audio signals; (d) converting the first and second sets of synthesized spectralcomponents into the N decoded audio signals in a time domain, N=1, wherein: the first audio synthesis scheme comprises applying one or more auditory spatial parameters to the first set of spectral components to generate the first set of synthesizedspectral components; and the second audio synthesis scheme does not involve application of any auditory spatial parameters to the second set of spectral components to generate the second set of synthesized spectral components.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of recovering the one or more auditory spatial parameters from the encoded audio bitstream.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein: the spectral components in the first set have frequencies above a specified threshold frequency; and the spectral components in the second set have frequencies below the specified threshold frequency.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein: the spectral components in the first set have spectral energies below a specified threshold energy; and the spectral components in the second set have spectral energies above the specified threshold energy.

35. A machine-readable medium, having encoded thereon program code, wherein, when the program code is executed by a machine, the machine implements a method for encoding N input audio signals, N>1, comprising the steps of: (a) convertingeach of the N input audio signals into a plurality of spectral components in a frequency domain; (b) for each of one or more, but not all, of the spectral components, downmixing the spectral components corresponding to the N input audio signals togenerate a downmixed spectral component, leaving one or more of the spectral components for each of the N input audio signals unmixed; and (c) converting the one or more downmixed spectral components and the one or more unmixed spectral components intoN hybrid audio signals in a time domain, wherein each hybrid audio signal is formed from at least one downmixed spectral component and at least one unmixed spectral component.

36. A machine-readable medium, having encoded thereon program code, wherein, when the program code is executed by a machine, the machine implements a method for decoding an encoded audio bitstream, comprising the steps of: (a) decoding theencoded audio bitstream to recover N hybrid audio signals, wherein each hybrid audio signal is formed from at least one downmixed spectral component and at least one unmixed spectral component; (b) convert each of the N hybrid audio signals into aplurality of spectral components in a frequency domain, wherein: one or more sets of the spectral components correspond to downmixed spectral components; and one or more sets of the spectral components correspond to unmixed spectral components; (c) foreach downmixed spectral component, applying one or more auditory spatial parameters to generate two or more synthesized spectral components; and (d) converting the synthesized spectral components and the unmixed spectral components into N decoded audiosignals in a time domain, N>1.

Description:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the encoding of audio signals and the subsequent decoding of the encoded audio signals to generate an auditory scene during playback.

2. Description of the Related Art

In conventional stereo audio coding, the sum and the difference of the left and right audio channels of the stereo input signal are formed and then individually coded, e.g., using adaptive differential pulse code modulation (ADPCM) or some othersuitable audio coding algorithm, to form an encoded audio bitstream. The corresponding conventional stereo audio decoding involves reversing the (ADPCM) coding algorithm to recover decoded sum and difference signals, from which left and right audiochannels of a decoded stereo output signal are generated.

Although such conventional stereo audio coding/decoding (codec) techniques can produce an auditory scene during playback that accurately reflects the fidelity of the stereo input signal, the amount of data required for the corresponding encodedaudio bitstream may be prohibitively large for some applications involving limited storage space and/or transmission bandwidth.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The '877, '458, and '437 applications describe audio codec techniques that can produce smaller encoded audio bitstreams for the same or substantially similar levels of playback fidelity as those associated with conventional stereo audio codecs. In particular, these patent applications are related to an audio coding technique referred to as binaural cue coding (BCC).

When BCC coding is applied to stereo audio, the left and right channels of the stereo input signal are downmixed (e.g., by summing) to a single mono signal, which is then encoded using a suitable conventional audio coding algorithm such as ADPCM. In addition, the left and right channels are analyzed to generate a stream of BCC parameters. In one implementation, for each audio frame (e.g., 20 msec), the BCC parameters include auditory spatial cues such as an inter-channel or inter-aural leveldifference (ILD) value and an inter-channel or inter-aural time difference (ITD) value between the left and right channels for each of a plurality of different frequency bands in the stereo input signal. Since the corresponding encoded audio data mightinclude only an encoded mono signal and a stream of BCC parameters, the amount of encoded data may be considerably smaller (e.g., 50-80%) than that for a corresponding encoded audio bitstream generated using conventional stereo audio coding, such as thatdescribed previously.

The corresponding BCC decoding involves reversing the (e.g., ADPCM) coding algorithm to recover a decoded mono signal. Stereo audio synthesis techniques are then applied to the decoded mono signal using the BCC parameters to generate left andright channels of a decoded stereo audio signal for playback. Although typically lower than that achieved using conventional stereo audio codecs, the fidelity of an auditory scene generated using BCC coding and decoding may be acceptable for manyapplications, while typically using lower bandwidth.

Embodiments of the present invention are related to a hybrid audio codec technique in which conventional audio coding is applied to certain frequency bands of the input audio signals, while BCC coding is applied to other frequency bands of theinput audio signals. In one possible stereo implementation, signal spectral components whose frequencies above a specified threshold frequency (e.g., 1.5 kHz) are coded using BCC coding, while lower-frequency components are coded using conventionalstereo coding. As a result, even higher fidelity playback can be achieved than using only BCC coding, while still reducing the total amount of encoded data compared to conventional stereo coding.

According to one embodiment, the present invention is a method for encoding N input audio signals, where N>1. Each of the N input audio signals is converted into a plurality of spectral components in a frequency domain. For each of one ormore, but not all, of the spectral components, the spectral components corresponding to the N input audio signals are downmixed to generate a downmixed spectral component, leaving one or more of the spectral components for each of the N input audiosignals unmixed. An encoded audio bitstream is generated based on the one or more downmixed spectral components and one or more unmixed spectral components.

According to another embodiment, the present invention is an encoded audio bitstream generated by performing the previously recited method.

According to another embodiment, the present invention is an apparatus for processing N input audio signals, where N>1, for encoding. One or more transforms are configured to convert each of the N input audio signals into a plurality ofspectral components in a frequency domain. A downmixer is configured, for each of one or more, but not all, of the spectral components, to downmix the spectral components corresponding to the N input audio signals to generate a downmixed spectralcomponent, leaving one or more of the spectral components for each of the N input audio signals unmixed.

According to another embodiment, the present invention is a method for decoding an encoded audio bitstream. The encoded audio bitstream is decoded to generate a plurality of spectral components in a frequency domain, wherein one or more sets ofthe spectral components correspond to downmixed spectral components, and one or more sets of the spectral components correspond to unmixed spectral components. For each set of the downmixed spectral components, one or more auditory spatial parametersare applied to generate a synthesized spectral component. The synthesized spectral components and the unmixed spectral components are converted into N decoded audio signals in a time domain, where N>1.

According to another embodiment, the present invention is an apparatus for decoding an encoded audio bitstream. An audio decoder is configured to decode the encoded audio bitstream to generate a plurality of spectral components in a frequencydomain, wherein one or more sets of the spectral components correspond to downmixed spectral components, and one or more sets of the spectral components correspond to unmixed spectral components. A synthesizer is configured, for each set of thedownmixed spectral components, to apply one or more auditory spatial parameters to generate a synthesized spectral component. One or more inverse transforms are configured to convert the synthesized spectral components and the unmixed spectralcomponents into N decoded audio signals in a time domain, where N>1.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other aspects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, the appended claims, and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a hybrid audio system, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the processing implemented by the BCC analyzer/mixer of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the processing implemented by the BCC synthesizer of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a hybrid audio system 100, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Audio system 100 comprises transmitter 102 and receiver 104. Transmitter 102 receives the left (L) and right (R) channels of aninput stereo audio signal and generates an encoded audio bitstream 106 and a corresponding stream 108 of BCC parameters, which, depending on the implementation, may or may not be explicitly encoded into bitstream 106. FIG. 1 shows BCC parameter stream108 being transmitted out-of-band from transmitter 102 to receiver 104. In either case, receiver 104 receives the data generated by transmitter 102, decodes encoded audio bitstream 106, and applies the BCC parameters in stream 108 to generate the left(L') and right (R') channels of a decoded stereo audio signal.

In transmitter 102, BCC analyzer/mixer 110 converts the left (L) and right (R) audio signals into the frequency domain. For spectral components above a specified threshold frequency, BCC analyzer/mixer 110 generates BCC parameters for stream 108using the BCC techniques described in the '877, '458, and '437 applications. BCC analyzer/mixer 110 also downmixes those high-frequency components to mono. Copies of the high-frequency mono component are then converted back to the time domain incombination with the low-frequency "unmixed" left and right components (i.e., the unprocessed frequency-domain components below the specified threshold frequency), respectively, to form hybrid left and right signals 118. Stereo audio coder 112 appliesconventional stereo coding to these hybrid left and right signals to generate encoded audio bitstream 106.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the processing implemented by BCC analyzer/mixer 110 of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment of the present invention. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) 202.sub.L converts the left audio signal L into a plurality ofleft-channel spectral components 204 in the frequency domain. Similarly, FFT 202.sub.R converts the right audio signal R into a plurality of right-channel spectral components 206 in the frequency domain. The one or more left-channel components204.sub.HI and the corresponding one or more right-channel components 206.sub.HI whose frequencies are above the specified threshold frequency are applied to both downmixer 208 and BCC parameter generator 216.

Downmixer 208 combines each high-frequency left-channel component 204.sub.HI with its corresponding high-frequency right-channel component 206.sub.HI to form a high-frequency mono component 210.sub.HI. The processing performed by downmixer 208to generate the mono components may vary from implementation to implementation. In one possible implementation, downmixer 208 simply averages the corresponding left- and right-channel components. In another possible implementation, downmixer 208implements the downmixing technique described in the '165 application. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other suitable downmixing algorithms are possible.

Replicator 212 generates two copies of each high-frequency mono component 210.sub.HI for application to left and right inverse FFTs (IFFTs) 214.sub.L and 214.sub.R, respectively. IFFTs 214.sub.L and 214.sub.R also receive the low-frequency leftand right components 204.sub.LO and 206.sub.LO, respectively, from FFTs 202.sub.L and 202.sub.R IFFTs 214.sub.L and 214.sub.R convert their respective sets of components back to the time domain to generate the left and right hybrid signals 118.sub.L and118.sub.R, respectively. The resulting two-channel signal contains identical frequency components within spectral regions that were converted to mono, with the remaining parts being identical to the input signals L and R. As a result, stereo audio coder112 will typically generate an encoded audio bitstream that has fewer bits than if it were to encode the original input stereo audio signal (L and R).

BCC parameter generator 216 analyzes the high-frequency left and right components 204.sub.HI and 206.sub.HI to generate BCC parameters for stream 108 of FIG. 1 for each frequency band above the specified threshold frequency.

Referring again to FIG. 1, in receiver 104, stereo audio decoder 114 applies a conventional stereo decoding algorithm (e.g., to reverse the coding implemented by coder 112) to recover hybrid decoded left and right signals 120. BCC synthesizer116 applies BCC synthesis techniques to the high-frequency portions of channels 120 to synthesize the high-frequency portions of the decoded left (L') and right (R') channels. In particular, BCC synthesizer 116 converts the hybrid channels 120 to thefrequency domain, applies the BCC parameters to the high-frequency components to synthesize high-frequency left and right components using the BCC techniques described in the '877, '458, and '437 applications, and then reconverts the resultingsynthesized high-frequency components and corresponding decoded low-frequency components to the time domain.

FIG. 3 shows a block diagram of the processing implemented by BCC synthesizer 116 of FIG. 1, according to one embodiment of the present invention. FFT 302.sub.L converts hybrid left audio signal 120.sub.L from stereo audio decoder 114 into aplurality of left-channel spectral components 304 in the frequency domain. Similarly, FFT 302.sub.R converts hybrid right audio signal 120.sub.R from decoder 114 into a plurality of right-channel spectral components 306 in the frequency domain. The oneor more left-channel components 304.sub.HI and the corresponding one or more right-channel components 306.sub.HI whose frequencies are above the specified threshold frequency are applied to mono signal generator 308.

Mono signal generator 308 generates a high-frequency mono component for each high-frequency left-channel component 304.sub.HI, and its corresponding high-frequency right-channel component 306.sub.HI. Ideally, since replicator 212 of FIG. 2generated identical copies of each high-frequency mono component 210.sub.HI, each high-frequency left-channel component 304.sub.HI should be identical to its corresponding high-frequency right-channel component 306.sub.HI. As such, mono signal generator308 could simply select either the left channel or the right channel to "generate" the one or more high-frequency mono components 310.sub.HI. Alternatively, mono signal generator 308 could simply average or perform some other suitable downmixingalgorithm, including the algorithm described in the '165 application, to generate each mono component 310.sub.HI, in order to account for any real-world differences that may exist between the left and right high-frequency component 304.sub.HI and306.sub.HI.

In any case, BCC stereo synthesizer 312 applies BCC processing to generate a high-frequency left-channel component 314.sub.HI and a high-frequency right-channel component 316.sub.HI for each high-frequency mono component 310.sub.HI. Thehigh-frequency left- and right-channel components 314.sub.HI and 316.sub.HI are applied to left and right IFFTs 318.sub.L and 318.sub.R, respectively. IFFTs 214.sub.L and 214.sub.R also receive the low-frequency left and right components 304.sub.LO and306.sub.LO respectively, from FFTs 302.sub.L and 302.sub.R. IFFTs 318.sub.L and 318.sub.R convert their respective sets of components back to the time domain to generate left and right channels L' and R', respectively, of the decoded stereo signal ofFIG. 1.

A natural cross-over frequency from the "true" stereo part to the BCC-generated stereo part is 1.5 kHz. Above that frequency the human auditory system does not substantially evaluate inter-aural phase differences for sound localization. Thus,the human auditory system is less sensitive to inter-channel phase errors introduced by BCC processing in that range. Moreover, the most salient auditory localization cues are usually derived from low-frequency components, unless the audio signal hasdominant spectral energy at higher frequencies.

The present invention can also be implemented using a hybrid transmitter such as transmitter 102 of FIG. 1, but a receiver that does not perform any BCC processing. In this case, BCC synthesizer 116 of FIG. 1 may be omitted from receiver 104,and the resulting receiver can ignore BCC parameter stream 108 during decoding processing. Legacy receivers that contain only a conventional audio decoder fall into that category. Such a receiver would not provide BCC spatialization of the auditoryimage for spectral parts of the decoded audio signals that are based on mono components. However, there is still a remaining stereo effect created by those parts of the spectrum that are preserved as stereo. This stereo effect by itself provides amechanism for bit-rate reduction as compared to the transmission of the full-bandwidth stereo. Explicitly, mixing parts of the spectrum of the audio input signal to mono reduces the bit rate of a conventional audio coder. The spatial image degradationshould be tolerable, if the mono part of the spectrum is limited to frequencies above about 1 kHz.

For some applications, BCC processing may be intentionally limited to transmit only inter-channel level differences as the BCC parameters (i.e., and not any inter-channel time differences). For headphone playback, inter-channel time differencesare important for creating a natural spatial image, especially at frequencies below 1.5 kHz. By keeping the stereo signal up to a limit of about 1.5 kHz, the spatial cues in that frequency are available at the receiver and greatly improve the listeningexperience with headphones.

Transmitting a small spectral bandwidth as a stereo signal does not necessarily increase the bit rate of the audio coder dramatically compared to applying BCC processing to the full spectral range. The audio coder can still take full advantageof those parts of the spectrum that are mono by using, e.g., sum/difference coding. The data rate for the BCC parameters can be reduced, since no parameters need to be transmitted for the spectral part that is kept stereo.

The application of BCC processing to spectral regions can be made adaptive such that an optimum quality/bit-rate tradeoff is achieved. For instance, BCC processing could be switched off for very critical material, or it could be applied to thefull spectrum for non-critical material. The spectral region where BCC processing is applied can be controlled, for instance, by one parameter per frame that indicates the upper frequency bound up to which the stereo signal is kept for encoding. Inaddition, the threshold frequency between stereo and BCC coding could dynamically change based on the number of bits that would actually be used to code different spectral regions of the audio data by the different techniques.

The audio quality range covered by the hybrid codec scheme in FIG. 1 reaches transparent quality when the spectral region of BCC processing has zero bandwidth. With continuously increasing bandwidth for BCC processing, a gradual qualitytransition from traditional stereo audio coding to the original full-bandwidth BCC coding scheme of the '877, '458, and '437 applications is possible. Therefore, the quality range of the present invention extends to both quality ranges: that of theoriginal BCC scheme and that of the traditional audio coding scheme.

Moreover, the hybrid coding scheme is inherently bit-rate scalable. In terms of the coder structure, such a scheme is also referred to as "layered coding." This feature can be used for instance to reduce the bit rate of a given bitstream toaccommodate for channels with lower capacity. For such purposes, the BCC parameters can be removed from the bitstream. In that case, a receiver is still able to decode an audio signal with a reduced stereo image, as described above for the legacydecoder. A further step for reducing the bit rate is meaningful, if the stereo audio coder uses sum/difference coding. It is possible to isolate the difference signal information in the bitstream and remove it. In this case, the receiver will decodeonly the sum signal, which is a monophonic audio signal.

The different "layers" (e.g., sum, difference, and BCC information) also provide a natural division of the bitstream for unequal error protection for lossy channels. For such applications, the sum signal would get the highest protection and theBCC information would get the lowest protection. If the channel temporarily has a high error rate, then the mono sum signal might still be recoverable, while the difference signal and BCC information might be lost. Such a scheme avoids more audiblyannoying frame concealment mechanisms.

Although the present invention has been described in the context of applications in which BCC processing is applied to all and only frequency bands above a specified threshold frequency, the present invention is not so limited. In general, forthe hybrid processing of the present invention, BCC processing can be applied to any one or more--but less than all--frequency bands, whether they are contiguous or not, and independent of any threshold frequency.

For example, in one possible implementation, BCC processing is applied to only those frequency bands with energy levels below a specified threshold energy, while conventional stereo encoding is applied to the remaining frequency bands. In thisway, conventional stereo encoding optimizes fidelity for the "important" (i.e., high spectral energy) frequency bands, while BCC processing optimizes bandwidth for the less-important (i.e., low spectral energy) frequency bands.

Although the present invention has been described in the context of encoding and decoding a stereo audio signal, the present invention can also be applied to multi-channel applications having more than two input and output channels. Furthermore,the present invention can be applied to applications in which the number of input channels differs from (either higher or lower than) the number of output channels.

Although the present invention has been described in the context of receivers that apply the BCC techniques of the '877, '458, and '437 applications to synthesize auditory scenes, the present invention can also be implemented in the context ofreceivers that apply other techniques for synthesizing auditory scenes that do not necessarily rely on the techniques of the '877, '458, and '437 applications.

Although the present invention has been described in the context of a real-time system in which the generated data are transmitted immediately from the transmitter to the receiver for real-time decoding and playback, the invention is not solimited. For example, the data generated by the transmitter may be stored in computer memory or other electronic storage medium for subsequent, non-real-time playback by one or more receivers.

Although the present invention has been described in the context of embodiments having an audio coder (e.g., stereo coder 112 of FIG. 1) that encodes hybrid signals in the time domain to generate an encoded audio bitstream and an audio decoder(e.g., stereo decoder 114) that decodes the encoded audio bitstream to recover decoded hybrid signals in the time domain, the present invention is not so limited. Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention can be implemented inthe context of embodiments that code and decode audio data in the frequency domain. For example, the embodiment of FIGS. 1-3 can be modified to replace stereo audio coder 112 and stereo audio decoder 114 with audio codecs that encode and decode,respectively, audio data in the frequency domain. In that case, BCC analyzer/mixer 110 of FIG. 2 can be modified to eliminate replicator 212 and IFFTs 214, and BCC synthesizer 116 of FIG. 3 can be modified to eliminate FFTs 302 and mono signal generator308. In that case, downmixed (i.e., mono) spectral components 210.sub.HI generated by downmixer 208 and unmixed spectral components 204.sub.LO and 206.sub.LO are passed directly to the frequency-domain audio coder in the transmitter. Similarly, thecorresponding downmixed (i.e., mono) and unmixed spectral components recovered by the frequency-domain audio decoder in the receiver are passed directly to BCC stereo synthesizer 312 and IFFTs 318, respectively.

The present invention may be implemented as circuit-based processes, including possible implementation on a single integrated circuit. As would be apparent to one skilled in the art, various functions of circuit elements may also be implementedas processing steps in a software program. Such software may be employed in, for example, a digital signal processor, micro-controller, or general-purpose computer.

The present invention can be embodied in the form of methods and apparatuses for practicing those methods. The present invention can also be embodied in the form of program code embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, harddrives, or any other machine-readable storage medium, wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. The present invention can also be embodiedin the form of program code, for example, whether stored in a storage medium, loaded into and/or executed by a machine, or transmitted over some transmission medium or carrier, such as over electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or viaelectromagnetic radiation, wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. When implemented on a general-purpose processor, the program codesegments combine with the processor to provide a unique device that operates analogously to specific logic circuits.

It will be further understood that various changes in the details, materials, and arrangements of the parts which have been described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of this invention may be made by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention as expressed in the following claims.